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Utility top dog retires amid probe

The Lowell Sun

Updated:
12/30/2012 06:34:59 AM EST

IN THE midst of the police investigation into hijinks at the Lowell Regional Water Utility, one of the utility's top employees is retiring. Archie Trainor, the superintendent of distribution, is stepping down as the police probe focuses on whether employees he supervised illegally profited from the sale of city scrap metal. Utility Foreman Geoff Whitman, one of those employees, is a subject of the investigation.

Trainor had told colleagues earlier this year that he planned to work another five years and then retire, at which point he would be able to get his maximum pension.

But after alleged scrap-metal theft was raised at the gas-theft trial of former LRWU employee Ronnie Mercier and the City Council called for an investigation, Trainor changed his tune.

Trainor began telling people he was retiring sooner because he was worried about the investigation and the potential impact of the fallout on his pension. Trainor is friendly with the owner of the scrap-metal business Betty's, which is one location police secured receipts from as part of their investigative work.

Trainor, whose budgeted salary for fiscal 2013 is $74,682, did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

The police investigation is close to conclusion, but has dragged on with some familiar with the probe saying it has been a "complicated process" piecing evidence together. The phrase "more than meets the eye" also has been used in reference to the police probe.

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City Manager Bernie Lynch said Friday the investigation remains ongoing and that he could not comment further.

The utility threw a retirement party for Trainor on Thursday, with Woodard and Curran, a utility contractor, bringing the food, including ham, potatoes and strawberry shortcake from Lenzi's.

Utility Executive Director Dan Lahiff made a speech congratulating Trainor and presented the avid fisherman with a fishing rod.

Maintenance Superintendent Eric Ryder, a Lahiff friend, is already sniffing around about Trainor's job and trying to figure out how to get the licensure needed to obtain it, according to several employees in the know.

ALL SIGNS are pointing toward Lynch declining to reappoint longtime Lowell Housing Authority Commissioner Walter "Buddy" Flynn to the five-member board. Flynn's appointment expires Monday. The commissioner told The Column he has yet to have a conversation with Lynch about a reappointment.

Meanwhile, Lynch told The Column other candidates have reached out to him and he has set up interviews.

Lynch said no decision has been made, and he wouldn't say if Flynn has been ruled out.

"I'm always trying to balance experience with new blood," said Lynch. His last pick for the board, Tim Green, was a "new blood" selection.

Flynn said he remains undecided about whether he wants the post, but plans to reach out to Lynch and LHA Executive Director Gary Wallace this week.

He also said he expects any conversations Wallace has had with Lynch about the post to impact his decision.

"I'll talk to Gary and see what he wants to do," Flynn said. "Gary and Bernie will be the deciding factor."

Lynch said he does not discuss LHA appointments with Wallace, but that Wallace has in the past forwarded the names of interested candidates who have contacted him.

Flynn says if the manager and the council are looking for "new blood," he probably won't be the selection.

Lynch plans to make a pick by Friday, which is when the agenda for the next City Council meeting is released.

SPEAKING OF board vacancies, Lynch has a key spot to fill on the city's three-member Licensing Commission. The manager told The Sun he hopes to make a recommendation to the City Council at its next meeting, Jan. 8. Lynch said the process is more "complicated" than spelled out in a recent Sun editorial questioning why, if the appointment is a priority to implementing new rules and regulations on liquor establishments, it has taken so long to fill Denis Teague's vacancy. Teague said on Oct. 25 that he would be stepping down officially on Nov. 9. Lynch said Friday that Teague's spot must go to a registered Republican. He said he initially reached out to GOP City Committee member Cliff Krieger to see if he were interested. Krieger said he'd do it if he were not considering a run in the fall for School Committee. Krieger then met with the manager and gave Lynch a list of names -- all Republicans -- who might be considered.

"It's not easy finding Republicans in the city since a lot of them are registered as unenrolled, especially if they are business owners," Krieger told The Column. "So it does make it harder to find someone who is willing and able to serve."

Some Republicans also have libertarian viewpoints, meaning they'd be generally opposed to serving on a regulatory board which might have to increase oversight rules and penalties on businesses. "I'm looking for someone who is willing to work with others to build a consensus," said Lynch.

The manager said he'd be finishing interviews this week with candidates, several of whom were on Krieger's suggested list.

SINCE PRESIDENT Barack Obama nominated Sen. John Kerry to become secretary of state, the focus has been on who will run in a special election to complete the senior senator's term.

U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, of Malden, opened that race by announcing Thursday he is a candidate. On Friday, he got Kerry's blessing.

Another possible candidate is U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, of Somerville. But in an interview on WBUR Friday morning, Democratic strategist Dan Payne suggested that Capuano, who only has $500,000 in his warchest compared to Markey's $3 million, would be a better candidate for governor in two years. Payne then went on to name UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan as a possible gubernatorial candidate, too, noting his campaign warchest of nearly $5 million.

There's a couple issues with that scenario, however.

First, Meehan's not interested in the corner office on Beacon Hill for the same reason he's not interested in Kerry's seat.

"The transformation of UMass Lowell is not complete, and it won't be for 10 years," said Meehan, who is five years in. "I want to see that through."

Now, Meehan has denied having interest in other positions, but it is seeming more apparent by the day that he intends to remain at his alma mater (Class of 1978) for the foreseeable future .. unless ...

Which brings us to Meehan's bulging bank account.

On the day before Thanksgiving in 2002, the state Legislature stuck it to Meehan by amending campaign-finance laws, effectively prohibiting the former 5th District congressman from using money raised as a federal employee in a statewide race.

To run for governor, Meehan could return the money, and request it back in $500 sums. But even he said that would be impractical, noting it would be easier to start from scatch. The other option, he said, would be to donate a large chunk to the state Democratic Party, which would then spend it on his behalf, but only in a general election.

Meehan said he's not surprised Payne mentioned him as a possible candidate.

"A lot of people have asked me about running for governor," said Meehan, who turns 56 today.

Happy birthday.

WHO COULD make a bold move from this area for U.S. Senate? Since Rep. Niki Tsongas said she's not interested, there is a woman who could run an "outsider" campaign just like Elizabeth Warren did to defeat Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown. That person is Lowell's Eileen Donoghue, the state senator from the 1st Middlesex District who won Steve Panagiotakos' seat in a special election in January 2011. One political consultant said Donoghue would give fits to an all-male Democrat primary field. "She'd actually have statewide appeal. She was born in Holyoke, went to school at UMass Amherst, and then made her way east where she's been a successful attorney, city councilor and mayor in a rejuventated urban city. What's not to like."

Interesting. Looking back, Donoghue lost to Tsongas in a tight 2007 special election primary to fill Meehan's congressional seat by just 4 percentage points. "She'd definitely be a good candidate to win the women's vote," said the consultant, "but the big question is whether she can raise the money. I think the possibility of two women senators from Massachusetts would bring in a lot of national money to a Donoghue campaign."

Hey, we're just tossing this out there from what someone told us. The Column tried reaching Donoghue Saturday afternoon but could not connect.

Hanson, a program director with the Lowell Police Department and University of Massachusetts Lowell grad, has been on the Board of Selectmen since 2010.

"Come January, I do intend to pull papers to run for Board of Selectmen and serve another three years," he said at the end of the Dec. 17 board meeting, mentioning what the board has been able to accomplish in his term.

"That's really excited me and encouraged me to want to keep going and serve for another three years," he said. "I look forward to a hard-fought campaign with whoever else pulls papers. I hope there are some other candidates."

Selectmen Chairman Jon Kurland, whose term is also expiring, has not said whether he will run for re-election.

One challenger will be Carmen Christiano, who hosts the Politically Incorrect Show on Chelmsford TeleMedia. Christiano, 64, has lived on Drew Circle for 35 years.

IT WAS a year of a multitude of accomplishments for the town of Chelmsford, Town Manager Paul Cohen said in his recent taping of "Town Manager's Roundtable" on Chelmsford public-access TV.

Among the two dozen or so accomplishments: purchase of the 30-acre Sheehan Farm for agricultural preservation, which Cohen called "the land acquisition of the year."

The town also reopened, after extensive renovations, the Old Town Hall as the Chelmsford Center for the Arts and the former North Town Hall as the Chelmsford Community Center. Two historic buildings on the Town Common, as well as the town clock across the st., were also restored.

Voters gave final approval -- finally -- to a new central fire station, renovations advanced on a new public-works facility at a former dog food distribution center on Alpha Road, and utility lines in the town center were buried underground. The utility poles should be removed by the late winter or early spring, Cohen said.

Also mentioned by Cohen: rooftop solar panels at the high school, Parker Middle School and library; planning for the town-owned Oak Hill property; a master plan in the works for Varney Playground; and a review of all 28 town-owned buildings for potential energy efficiency improvements, among others.

WHEN TEWKSBURY residents are able to pull papers for the 2013 town election, they might find an extra incentive to run for the Board of Selectmen: an open seat. Two-term selectwoman Anne Marie Stronach announced last month that she will not seek reelection.

During the board member reports section of the Nov. 27 selectmen's meeting, Stronach read a statement saying she didn't feel she could provide the necessary level of commitment over another term but would remain an engaged citizen. Stronach is the board's lone female member. She specifically encouraged women to run and participate in town government.

Selectman Todd Johnson, who was elected alongside Stronach 5 1/2 years ago, thanked Stronach for her service and said he had enormous respect for her. After their shared election night, the two were "kindred spirits," Johnson said.

Johnson's term is also up in 2013, but he has yet to formally announce plans.

THIS TIME, it's personal.

Longtime Billerica selectmen Bob Correnti and Mike Rosa will run for re-election, with the only challenge so far coming from Andover Road resident and Town Meeting member George Simolaris.

Simolaris led the effort to overturn the $14 million town center redesign last month, and is squarely trying to unseat Correnti, a project supporter, not Rosa, the only foe on the five-member panel.

Rosa may have his own foe in local businessman Steve Wilson, with whom the relationship is colder than the air at the Hallenborg Ice Rink. Wilson finished third in last year's race, and once stormed out of a board meeting when his application for a license to sell used cars was denied.

"You've screwed me for the last time, Mike," an enraged Wilson said at that March 2011 meeting.

Wilson hasn't confirmed for certain whether or not he'll run this spring, but it should be a whole lot more fun if he does.

LOWELL REGIONAL Transit Authority Executive Director James Scanlan predicts that the state Department of Transportation will require regional transportation authorities to each conduct a "comprehensive service analysis" in the near future. And, that will be a good thing.

Scanlan said LRTA mostly serves those who rely on buses to get around the communities. But there's no data. Scanlan said he's not sure how many LRTA riders are Boston-bound commuters taking bus to the train station. Nor could he said where riders on the Belvidere route, the system's busiest, were heading.

In his defense, LRTA installed the electronic "Charlie Card" readers on buses only a year ago. Until then, the authority didn't even have accurate ridership figures as it had relied on the drivers to manually punch a button to count riders, Scanlan said.

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